Configuring the Audi MMI WiFi hot-spot

If you want to use the Audi MMI WiFi hot-spot to route data over your phone’s 4G/LTE connection rather than the embedded (eSIM), there are a couple things you need to know.

Firstly, the eSIM does not come with the ability to route hotspot data over the cars connection unless you buy a data bundle – but most people already have data bundled into their mobile phone contract, so why would you want to buy a separate bundle?

If you try it you might see something like this:

Secondly, if you want to use your phone’s connection, the steps you need to follow are going to be different depending on what type of phone you have. I have a Samsung Galaxy A5 which is for personal use, but I also have an iPhone 6s which is my work phone. So I have both phones paired with the MMI but the Samsung is the primary phone and the iPhone is the additional phone. The current crop of Samsung phones support the rSAP Bluetooth profile (Remote SIM Access Profile), which makes it much easier to share the phone’s data plan. iPhone’s do not support rSAP, so a different approach has to be taken, such as enabling the wifi hotspot on the iPhone and connecting devices to it, but I think this is an inferior solution as it drains the battery and you also have to remember to turn it on and off. Using rSAP means the car will automatically connect to the phone and the kids tablets/phones will automatically connect to the car’s wifi – a much more elegant solution.

If you want to use a Samsung or other phone that supports rSAP, then you might need to make a change in the connection manager to get it to work. If you open up the connection manager you might see something similar to this:

Move the jog wheel to the right to bring up the options for the primary phone (assuming you have a Samsung or other rSAP device paired as as the primary phone):

Select “Display Bluetooth profiles”:

If “Car phone” says “Not connected” then the phone is currently connected using the Handsfree Bluetooth profile, AFAIK this does not support data sharing. Select “Car phone” and your phone should now connect via rSAP, and you will see this message:

If you select “Yes” then the rSAP connection will be aborted and the phone will remain connected via the Handsfree profile and the WiFi hotspot won’t work. You need to select “No” – this will route all data through your phone, including Audi connect services such as navigation data. You should then see something like this:

And notice in the bottom left corner you now only see one SIM card signal strength (because the eSIM is now disabled – in earlier pics above you will see two signal strengths, one for the eSIM, the other for your primary phone):

Connection manager should also show the phone being used for “Data connection” rather than “connect SIM”:

If you connect to the WiFi with a phone or tablet you should now be able to browse the web, access YouTube, Spotify etc.:

Now just have to hope the kids don’t get travel sick!